Wednesday, 11 December 2013

How amazing is that and it's the last time this will ever happen during this Century. I feel inexplicably excited about it... sort of bubbly inside. Why am I so influenced by numbers? Goodness knows! There's no logical explanation but I know that I'm not the only one and so I'm offering 3 thoughts on the matter.

Secondly I added them up a different way. 11 + 12 +13. That comes to 36. Add those two numbers and you still get 9.

Thirdly the square root of 9 is 3. So here are my 3 thoughts on my fascination for numbers:

Number 1. I love numbers that are consecutive, palindromic or, even better, all the same. If I park the car and the milometer is showing 8888 then I get excited. It's not that I expect anything special to happen. It's just... well, it's just pleasing.

Number 2. I try not to be influenced by lucky and unlucky numbers but it's not easy. There's something special about the date I was born. 25. It's got to be lucky... hasn't it? My friend lives in a flat that is number 12A and it sits between 12 and 14. A lot of people don't want to live in a number 13 property, it would seem.

Number 3. I feel uneasy about the mystical aspect of Hebrew letters. Each letter of the Hebrew alphabet also has a numerical value. This gives words different layers of meaning and some people believe that the deeper meanings can be interpreted in a mystical way. I understand very little about it. Maybe that's why it makes me feel uneasy.

What are your thoughts about numbers? Do you have a lucky number, an unlucky number? Do number patterns excite you... inexplicably?

Sunday, 1 December 2013

This week we are in the middle of Chanukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. Chanukah is a time when we give thanks for the miracle that kept a light burning in the Temple for eight days, long after the oil should have been used up. This year the festival has coincided with the US Thanksgiving Day, and so today's blog is all about giving thanks... and about miracles.

I would like to give thanks for all the miracles that surround me.

I can hear what you're saying! You're saying that miracles don't happen any more, not like they did in Biblical times. Well, that all depends on your definition of a miracle.

Charlie's favourite morning activity

For me a miracle is seeing the sun glistening on white-frost grass,

...the softness of Charlie's paw as she woke me with a stroke on my cheek,

...the way that Daughter and I often have the same thoughts.

OK, so these are not major miracles to match the great stories from the Bible but they are precious. They are things that I tend to take for granted and I shouldn't. I want to keep hold of all that awe and wonder from my childhood days.

So remove your 'taking it for granted' glasses, look around you and tell me what events of awe and wonder you can see.

I got the idea for this blog post while I was reading Inger's blog this morning. She is one of those lovely bloggers who I've got to know so well through exchanging blog comments. She lives in California and her blog is called Desert Canyon Living. Thanks Inger.

Rosalind Adam

I am a writer, committed worrier and nostalgia obsessive with a fascination for all things historical. I am enjoying my second year of an MA in Creative Writing at Leicester University and don't know how I'll manage without it. Please scroll down to see my books...

The Children's Book of Richard III

This is my latest book, illustrated by Alice Povey. Click on the picture to buy a copy or go to Amazon.

Children's History of Leicester

A Children's History of Leicester published by Hometown World Publishers, 2011

Bathtime Rap

Bathtime Rap is a fun children's picture book published by Franklin Watts, 2008.

Building a Community

A history of the Leicester Progressive Jewish Congregation

Heritage Funded Projects

I was lead facilitator on the following two Heritage Lottery funded projects:

Leicester Jewish Voices

In 2009 I coordinated a memories project looking at the Leicester Jewish Community during the 1950s and 60s. You can see the website by clicking on the picture.

Local Cemetery Project

I coordinated the cataloguing of the Jewish section of Leicester Gilroes to provide a genealogical search facility. Subsequent research of a number of the headstones enabled us to record 'The Lives Behind the Stones'. 2014/15